Can you believe that it’s been 10 years since Twilight came out? It doesn’t seem that long ago, maybe because the book didn’t get popular right away and they kept churning out movie sequels for years. It was inexplicably popular, perhaps due to the crop of ‘tweens that were ready to be introduced to the magic of supernatural romance. Author Stephenie Meyer knows those women have grown up and she wants to reach a whole new generation with her yearning stares and awkward dialogue. She’s accomplished that by switching the genders in the book and re-releasing it. Because women can be stalking, controlling cradle robbers too.
In honor of the 10th anniversary of her best-selling vampire romance, Twilight author Stephenie Meyer has written a 442-page reimagining of the novel that made her a publishing sensation. This time around, she’s switched the genders of her protagonists. Yes, it’s true. In the new tale titled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined, Bella Swan is now a boy named Beau (short for Beaufort) and the brooding Edward Cullen is now Edythe. Meyer is expected to discuss the project in more detail during an appearance Tuesday morning on Good Morning America.
Meyer explains in her foreword to the anniversary edition of the novel that she decided to go with the gender bending to underscore her position that Bella isn’t a “damsel in distress” as certain critics have charged. Rather, the author insists, the character is a “human in distress,” or as Meyer calls her, “a normal human being surrounded on all sides by people who are basically superheroes and supervillains.” Meyer also takes issue with the criticism that Bella was “too consumed with her love interest, as if that’s somehow just a girl thing.” The author mentions, too, that Beau is “more OCD” than Bella was and that he’s “totally missing the chip Bella carries around on her shoulder all the time.”
Meyer says writing the piece was “fun, but also really fast and easy.” According to the foreword, the rewrite allowed her to correct some errors that always bothered her and to re-edit the piece for grammar and word choice issues. She also altered some elements of the mythology for consistency.
It’s not a bad idea. I mean The Host got a movie but it didn’t do well at the box office, and that’s the only book Meyer has written beyond the Twilight series. She may as well stick with that series. I wonder, though, why she’s not telling more vampire-adjacent stories. There are all sorts of Cullens and Cullen offspring who could have their own spinoff series with fresh material. It seems very limiting to just switch the genders and re-release Twilight. It will make a lot of money with a minimum of work, though, and that’s probably her objective. I just hope my kid doesn’t want to read it. He’s 11 and he’s already graduated to better, more mature books like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. Is Meyer trying to reach boys as well? She has three sons but said that they haven’t read her books yet.
Meyer went on Good Morning America yesterday to make the announcement of the 10th anniversary edition and the new gender-swap story, titled Life and Death: Twilight Reimagined. She explained that it “really is the same story,” but that the “further you get in the more it changes because the personalities get a little bit different.” At the book’s heart, though “it’s just a love story. It doesn’t matter who’s the boy and who’s the girl it just works out.” She also hopes that younger readers will “be reintroduced.” So now it’s “Edythe” who’s the sparkly seductive one. Bella wasn’t biting her lips for nothing.
Cue the horrible EL James ripoff in three… two…
Hey Stephenie, let it go, let it go . . .
LOL. I haven’t read either series. I’m curious on people’s opinions here: which do they think is actually worse, Twilight or Shades?
Shades by far. It’s the same thing but crappier writing (“His voice is warm and husky like dark melted chocolate fudge caramel… or something”) written on a blackberry for adultfanfiction dot com.
Shades is way worse. Meyer isn’t a great writer, but James makes her look like Margaret Atwood.
@Izzy
Shades is a million times worse. Twilight is just bad, Shades makes you want to bleach your eyeballs.
Shades is way worse. James makes Meyer look like Margaret Atwood.
Speaking of which, Meyer had written an unpublished and unfinished version of Twilight years ago from Edward’s perspective. E.L. James really doesn’t have any original ideas does she?
Lol @Izzy. They we’re both pulpy silly romantic fiction but they accomplished their goal of holding your attention. Shades gave the twihards what they craved Bella and Edward full on fcking. So if that’s what you wanted beyond the romance, that one might be better. Lol i escaped with both of them. Haha
By the way those are the worst names ever, Edythe and Beaufort? Ugh. Also is beau pronounced ‘Bo,’ or ”Beeyoo,’ like for Beeyoofort. I don’t think beau is even short for Beaufort!
Beau is probably short for Beauregard and it’s French in origin, so the correct pronunciation is “bow”, not “beeyoo”
It’s incredibly subtle. Now we have a character named ‘Beautiful Swan’ yet again.
The originality gives me tingles in my creative lady bits.
The twilight series was garbage.
I don’t know if garbage is the right word, but I couldn’t read it. Little less sit for the movie. I did enjoy the “trampire” drama!
I had soooooooo many people tell me I ought to read it, but every time I tried I was overcome with how terribly it was written and put it down in disgust.
The Oatmeal really summed up Twilight best. Bella is merely an empty shell the reader can inhabit as they read about a magical sparkly dream lover who is everything the author ever wanted from a man. She has no personality because she is a vessel, a pair of pants. Edward is the entire point.
Yup to everything you said. That book hit the Goodwill pile about half way through.
Oh gaaaaaaawd…. NOOOOOOOoooooooo!
At this point, I think it’s safe to assume that Stephanie Meyers can ONLY write Twilight. Twilight from Edward’s perspective (she put that out a few years ago); Twilight with the genders switched, etc. Next year, she’ll put Twilight out from the werewolves’ view.
LOL love this!
And she had that short story about a minor character: “The Short Life of Bree Tanner.”
And then from the view of Bella and Edward’s child. Ugh
Gosh yes, from Jacob’s view.
And yet I’m tempted to read it, because it sounds so absurd….
Me too.. I’m curious. Is it word for word with name changes? She’s not creative enough to write a whole new spin off, breaking dawn was stupid. ( sorry if you are a fan) I was just kinda like really? That’s how she’s gonna end it?
Breaking Dawn was horrible. I’d say the first 3 are typical young adult angst books. But the final book just crapped on everything.
I doubt it’s a word for word exchange. I know she wanted to originally write Twilight from Edward’s perspective but then one chapter got leaked and she was furious and abandoned the whole project.
Guess she found a new perspective to deal with.
I still say that Breaking Dawn was the absolute worst book that I have ever read in my entire life. Everything was terrible – plot, characters, sub-plots that didn’t go anywhere, nicknames, tone etc. Terrible, terrible writing.
I’ll bite. Pun intended.
I’m a curious cuss and I kinda liked the Twilight series, except for Breaking Dawn. Yes it had cringe inducing dialogue, badly needed editing and was rife with wtf moments but I won’t apologize for enjoying it in all it’s cheesy, sparkly glory.
Esp. because of the many parodies and the many hours of lols it elicited courtesy of blogs like, Clolinda and Conversations with Vampires.
Oh young adult books are my no. 1 guilty pleasure. I unapologetically read everything, I don’t care.
(And almost all of them are 100x better than the 50 shades trilogy….)
I did too, and it was something my daughter and I both liked. She was going through those not so wonderful teenage years and this was a common interest. Breaking Dawn was an absolute mess and a disappointment. The same as when I got to the end of reading Steven King’s “It” and found out “it” was some giant spider. I am a little curious about this new twist of hers, but honestly if you’re going for a money grab there were other story lines to open up. Jacob and Renesmee, (ugh that name), the Cullen’s, Bella having to bite Charlie for some reason, anything but just changing the genders of the characters. I thought this was some belated April Fool’s joke when I read the headline yesterday.
A.Key, have you read “Looking for Alibrandi”? It’s a beautiful story by Melina Marchetta. There’s a movie, too. It’s my favourite young adult fiction story, even though I rarely read fiction nowadays.
Why not Edwarda and Bello? Since we’re keeping the same history.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAA, this made my day
True story, we tried to sell all the Twilight books (yes, my daughter bought them all, then promptly grew out of them) at our garage sale. They were in almost new condition. We sold every other book on the table, and NOT ONE of the Twilight books went. In the end we could not even give them away, and they went of to Good Will, poor them.
God I hope this sh*t gets old before my daughter is old enough to like it.
Me and you both….Mine is 3 and I think my book reading heart would be crushed if she liked Twilight.
Thank goodness my daughter never got into it, Lara and kcarp – I don’t know how I’d have coped!
When I was doing my final practicum to become a teacher (I retrained as a mature student), I was assigned to a very bright Year 6 class. All the kids always had a book on their desks. I noticed they’d finish their work and immediately open their books where they’d left off earlier, and immerse themselves in the story. I also noticed that a lot of girls, and one or two boys, were reading the same novel. As I had been head-down-bum-up in studies, I hadn’t paid attention to what was in the marketplace. One day, I asked a couple of the girls about this Twilight book they were reading, and one suggested I take it at lunchtime and have a read. I did, and wasn’t surprised that these clever 11-13 year old girls were so wrapped up in the story, and I confess, I thought it was written by a teenager for tweets and teens
I started doing casual work at this school, where I’d also been working part-time as a teacher’s aide while studying. The following year I noticed a group of 8 or 10 teachers and aides, who were obsessed – too strong a word? No, they were obsessed – with Twilight. Their classrooms were filled with Twilight merchandise – posters, t-shirts pinned on walls, scarves, stickers, and of course, the books. One day, I had to take one of their classes, and at 2pm, after recess, I prepared to start the final lesson of the day. The children seemed agitated, and then several explained that 2pm was the time their teacher devoted to reading a Twilight chapter to them. They were a Year 4 class. At the start of the following term, we were doing in-service training, in this particular classroom, which connected to another Twihard’s class, as these two ladies are best friends and did a lot of team-teaching. We all sat down and noticed the SmartBoards were already set up – with Twilight wallpapers. I remarked to a friend that it seemed inappropriate to have all this paraphernalia about a personal obsession decorating the classroom of 8-10 year olds. Our new principal seemed oblivious (and has remained so – he retires this week!) whereas I know the old one would have made them remove it all. There were endless notices and “in jokes”, posters, messages etc., pinned to their pigeon holes and cluttering up the staff room, and at 2pm three of them would often remove their tops so they could show off their latest Twilight t shirts, knowing there was little chance the principal would catch them wearing an inappropriate item in class time. They even conned the (idiot) principal into allowing them to leave very early one afternoon, so that they could go to a local cinema to prepare for the midnight screening of one of the latest movie releases, telling him they had prepared a learning unit based around the phenomenon for the Creative and Performing Arts programme! And had the following day off, of course… These are not young, new teachers. One is in her mid-30s and the others in their 40s.
Some people really get sucked in. I’m off work at the moment due to a serious medical issue, but I can’t wait to see how this clique responds to Edythe and Beau… Ugh.
Cash grab.
Mama needs a new pair of shooooooes…
And a jacket that’s not made from my Nannas crotched doilies.
Yes–if she’s such a great writer (NOT) Meyer would be unloading a whole new series on us, not recycling Twilight. Quick cash grab.
I can’t help but think that. From what it sounds like, she’s created this whole world populated with potentially interesting characters that could totally have stories written about them. But alas, she seems deeply uncreative so it’s yet another rehash of a pretty standard story.
Especially since it sounds like all she did was press CTRL + F and hit ‘Replace All’ with the new names inserted over the old ones, and then a couple minor edits. What did that take? 10 minutes? Yeah she even admitted it was quick. No kidding, lazy author lady. Smart business move for easy money, but sooooo lazy.
Everyone else is making money from fan fiction based on Twilight, why not SM herself?
I didn’t enjoy Twilight much, i was force fed all the movies and didn’t read the books.
BUT
I would still take this over that 50 shit shades nonsense. I’d still make the effort to read this.
I kind of liked the Host. I mean, Twilight came out when I was 15… so, I did like it at first. The further I got through them, the more I was like “dear god what is this crap”. But I really really liked the IDEA of the Host. I wish someone more interesting had written it.
I really liked the concept of the host as well. Twilight I read one of the books, but 50 shades of shit only made it till about 100pages. I suppose this interesting idea but I see it as an easy cash grab$$
The Host kind of reminded me of Animorphs (the dandilion aliens = Yeerks) and aside from the force fed love story, seemed like a half interesting universe. Kind of like Jupiter Ascending.
The Host had great premise and was edited better than Twilight but it could have been executed better in the hands of a more talented writer. What bogged down the book for me was yet another love triangle. I am heartily sick of love triangles.
It’s true, her ideas are really interesting and unique, it’s just that the writing is so incredibly painful. I winced all the way through Twilight, but I had to finish it. The Host too.
Didn’t read or watch The Host, but I remember thinking the trailer was interesting.
I’m really bad at watching movies, I’m a series person. I will watch.
I agree, I definitely prefer this to 50 shades!
I’d read this. as for spin offs, none of the other characters except for Charlie, are interesting enough, and that’s saying something. Maybe Jasper…
Hey CB, has your son read the Percy Jackson series? The movies were terrible but the books were fine. Also, Canadian author Gordon Korman writes a slew of books- Bruno and Boots is a long standing series.
I have a hard time finding books for my 8 yr old boy- he’s not into superheroes or dragons per se, and there don’t seem to be a lot of choices of books with a boy as the protagonist.
Kay – I’m quite good on children’s books. What type of story does your boy like? Fantasy? Adventure? Issues? Realistic? And do you put restrictions on content (violence, etc)? I can likely come up with some decent suggestions.
Oh thank you! I will see if he’s into reading Percy Jackson. I might just get them from the library and leave them around the house. Sometimes he’ll say “no” but if the books are around he’ll read them anyway.
The Percy Jackson series is phenomenal! I recommend it to everyone, regardless of age! It’s great fun and highly original in the way it handles traditional mythology and spins it into something new.
I love, LURVE the Percy Jackson series, and it’s sequel series Heros of Olympus. Not so keen on the Kane chronicles.
Just waded through entire Darren Shan series which grew progressively worse, but I waas committed.
Yep, going through pulpy teen literature at the moment.
And if the baroness passes by, I swear i’m reading Hitchens!!!!
My 10yr old niece loved “Gregor – The Underland Chronicles” by Suzanne Collins (she of the Hunger Games) and “Diary Of A Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney. Both series have a boy as the main character. 🙂
My sons love the Harry Potter and Percy Jackson books. My eldest son just called his Gram Gram about books for Christmas, and his list includes “anything by Rick Riordan.” He finished the Percy Jackson series, and moved on to the Brotherhood of Olympus, which he just completed. He is now asking for the Egyptian series . . .
Another well-loved set in his room is the Fablehaven series, written by Brandon Mull. They’re about a brother and sister (and their Grandpa) who encounter a refuge for magical creatures and it’s inhabitants.
And you can’t really go wrong with the timeless Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. My youngest son (8) loves hearing them read aloud.
Happy reading!!
yay a book thread! I love talking books. The author of Percy has a new series starting this month, based on the Norse gods this time. I didn’t prefer the Kane books either.
thanks Sixer, any ideas are welcomed. He likes adventure novels, like Percy, where against the odds they succeed. He likes characters that aren’t perfect, like Percy. (ok, he probably has a small crush on Annabeth 🙂 ). He did read the Judy Moody series and liked it.
The only real restrictions I have are saying no to graphic novels or novels like the Dork Diaries.
thanks Elisa, I will look those up for him 🙂
oh he also loved the Avatar series, the actual novels (the tv series as well).
not into the Hardy Boys though.
Kay
Whoops. So sorry. Forgot to come back and check! Ok – these are all suitable for middle grade readers so maybe a bit old for 8, but if he’s reading Percy Jackson, should be ok.
There is a series, Jimmy Coates by Joe Craig, about a genetically altered teen assassin who is trying NOT to be an assassin, Kinda like Jason Bourne. Quite violent but really it’s about free will and him trying to defy his programming.
Infinity Drake by John McNally – spy-come-sci-fi capers in which the hero gets shrunk to a few millimetres tall and goes about defeating evil geniuses and their biological weapons.
LAK mentioned Darren Shan. He has several series out, but I like the Demonata one. Lots of gore, not afraid to kill off beloved characters, but ALL the kids I know love his demons and the band who battle them.
Chris Priestley writes BRILLIANT riffs on Gothic horror for kids. And on that note, Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book is fabulous.
American authors I like who write stories about the childhood experience rather than fantasy type adventures are Jerry Spinelli and Louis Sachar (the Holes guy).
Australian author Morris Gleitzman is also brilliant, particularly his holocaust trilogy (which sounds like it would be far too heavy, but really, really isn’t.)
The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness by Michelle Paver is a fabulous series with a male central character – set in the Stone Age, with a magical quest. She’s also done a similar series set in Ancient Greece.
David Almond (the Skellig guy) has written other great middle grade stories – he’s magic realism for kids.
If you want more, shout out!
awesome! I will look into some of your recommendations for x-mas! 🙂
I’ve gone back to the Encyclopedia Brown detective stories, which my kids (7) are loving. And my son loves Diary of a Wimpy Kid (though I don’t think he understands that Greg is an anti-hero…) They are slightly lower level readers, but the Geronimo Stilton (and my daughter loves Thea Stilton) books are also good for quick reads.
Oh, and there’s always our darling JUDY BLUME! I forgot about Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, Sheila the Great, SuperFudge . . . . the list goes on!
My 8 year old laughs out loud about Fudge and his ridiculous turtle eating.
Yes, and my kids liked the Beverly Cleary books – Ramona and Henry and all those folks. And they are really well written, good vocabularies. Also, don’t forget all the Newberry award winners, some great stuff, though maybe a little more mature for 7 yr olds, but definitely 4th and 5th graders
WAIT! Is Beaufort going to have a sparkly baby?
So when he has the baby she chomps it out?
+1000
haven’t we suffered enough?
As a struggling ‘indie’ author, this is the sort of corporate publishing stupidity that gives me a case of the ‘gnashes’ on top of severe strain from rolling my eyes too hard. This author has no imagination whatsoever. NONE. She is greedy though and so is her stupid publisher.
How about a vampyr story from a different angle altogether, like in The Hunter of the Dead.
As for a story a boy might, just might enjoy, how about Rockwell and Spurlock or The Wandering Princes?
And yes, I fully expect we’ll see this twist get ripped off by that Fifty Shades yahoo tout suite!
I remember watching the first Twilight while high on pain killers after I got hit by a car. So I found it completely hilarious. This seems like a cash grab considering she was writing the one book from the vampire’s point of view, right?
Also, dem names are awful.
Saw headline, thought E.L. James will have been Preorder. You can never allow too much lead time prep when you’re a ‘Creative’ like her.
Between ‘Grey’ and now THIS, surely this thing has truly eaten itself AND completed the entire digestive —> waste product process. Surely… !
It’s like an ouroboros of shit!
if you thought the author of twillight couldnt possibly come up with something dumber she proves you wrong.
This just seems odd to me, if she’s looking for money she knows it’s in Midnight Sun or whatever from Edward’s point of view. Hell even I would read that, no shame here! Lol. There are lots of other stories to tell, this is just weird.
God I’m so glad that when I grew up the smutty books were actually smutty, and the vampires were deadly. Thank you Anne Rice and Joss!
I’ve been meaning to re-read The Vampire Chronicles, actually. I might do, after hearing this news.
I LOVED the Anne Rice books back in the day. Her characters were fresh and provocative.
Can’t forgive Hollywood for mucking up the Interview with the Vampire movie adaptation by casting Tommy McLifts as Lestat. In fact all the actors were pretty bad in that film and I don’t think any of them captured the characters well.
As cheesy as it might have been, I prefer the Queen of the Damned. Stuart Townsend was a much better Lestat. And Aaliyah was so beautiful.
Yes! Thank you, Anne Rice, for writing believable vampires and for resuscitating the genre in the first place.
Anne rarely gets the credit she deserves. She was really the first author to cast vampires as the protagonists, not the villains. Before Twilight, vampires had always been deadly predators, but Anne was the one who made many of them conflicted because they had a conscience. Traditionally, they were always a supernatural form of evil (a la Dracula) that had to be destroyed by the heroes. Anne changed all that. She was the first to give vampires their own culture and history, with the same complexity as any human society.
So it’s tiresome how so many writers, talented ones (George R.R. Martin) as well as hacks, borrow heavily from her, yet so few of them give Anne proper credit for “inspiring” them to write their own version of the vampire novel.
Stephenie is one of the hacks. I never finished even one of her books (and hallelujah that I never wasted a second on that 50 Shades crap). It was hard to suspend disbelief and ignore the bad writing.
It’s quite ridiculous that a vampire over a hundred years old (Edward) should fall in love with a teenage girl, because you would think a vampire’s mind should mature through time as a human mind would, especially so since they are immortal. Or is Edward a case of prolonged arrested development? Same goes with The Vampire Diaries. Yes, it’s the CW and it’s also written for a teen audience, but centuries-old vampires emotionally attracted to immature high school students? C’mon now.
I’m actually reading this. I’m on chapter 7, and somehow the genderswap is working. Beau/Bella is exactly like Bella and still feels like a real person who can function (he also trips, just not as much as bella, and he wants everything organized-i cant remember if bella had this same trait), and Edith too, which was all the point she tried to pass along from what she said. The one thing that it’s messy are the genderbended names (Rosalie for example is ROYAL????? Carlisle is Carinne. Bella’s parents stayed the same as meyer explained that in the 80s there was no way the father would get sole custody)
And she’s using most of the storylines in different scenarios, so it feels fresh while being the same story. Look, i’m not saying she’s written the best study in gender in young adult novels, but as twilight goes, it could be worse (let’s hope el james dont take a page out of this and genderbends 50 shades….)
Nobody cares about vampires anymore. I work in a library and I removed all the vampire series from our YA shelves a while back because they simply weren’t being borrowed anymore. (There were SO many post-Twilight). Fans of the original series will probably read it and others will to satisfy their curiosity, but there is no mass market for this type of book anymore. It’s all cyclical, vampires will come back in fashion at some point in the future, but not right now. If she’s looking to cash in, I hope she’s set her expectations low.
I’m a frequent library book borrower and I’ve been saddened by the trend for supernatural literature for teens in the past 5-8yrs. Since Twilight came out. I borrow from several libraries and noticed that the teen section didn’t have the variety that I had growing up. It’s been wall to wall derivative supernatural books by ever more desperate for a hit series and film series authors. It makes me sad.
I suspect EL James is warming up her computer right now and penning a reimagined version of 50 Shades where Christian Grey is a dominatrix.
For some reason I find this extremely irritating.
I was just thinking how weird/annoying this might become for some of the movies’ original cast members, as well… it’s the immortal creature that will not die from your filmography, and instead just keeps getting reanimated in even more ridiculous forms.
Twilight came out when I was a teenager. I remember patiently waiting for Harry Potter and the deadly hallows and not having another series in between that I could read, so I ate that sh*t up. I even had a team Edward shirt. I never liked it as much as Harry Potter, but I did like it back then. Then I tried to re-read them in my 20s and only made it to chapter 3 before I closed the book, the writing was that bad. Now, every once and again I pick the Harry Potter books and my husband and I have a Harry Potter movie marathon every few months or so. I was 11 when the first book came out, so I grew up with Harry James Potter. I still cry in certain parts. But with twilight, it’s more of what the heck was I thinking? And yeah I guess sparkles was and is pretty. I would read midnight sun though!
I read the PDF version of Midnight Sun that was going around the Internet a couple of years ago. It was godawful. You didn’t miss a thing.
I don’t think it’s a cash grab, as much as it is related to Meyer being unable to let go. Of these horrible, horrible characters.
It’s about money too. She has a built in audience that will buy it.
I read the first three twilight books because somebody bought them for me as a gift. While I didn’t find them as abominable as most people make out I.E I did actually finish them without forcing myself they were basically throw away trash.
I don’t want to sound like a vampire snob but the sparkly vampire thing is ridiculous and if you really want to read vampire novels Anne Rice is definitely the way IMO.
However I annoyingly find myself intrigued by the whole gender switching lol… Not gonna lie I’ll probably read it at some point but I’ll have a very hot shower and scrub after and like others have said I’ll wait for the announcement from E.L James imminently lol
I found myself attempting to re-read the Vampire Chronicles, and I got bored after the 2nd one and quit- and I really enjoyed them when they first came out. Guess it’s just an indication of how your tastes can change.
Re this $$ grab- and that’s all it is- hey, if there’s still an audience, it’ll sell. It really does seem like she and James are in some weird symbiotic relationship- yes, I do know the fan fic part. I wonder if the fact that James put out Grey first means Meyer will never finish her POV novel. And agreed- I would read a novel about Alice’s and Jasper’s back stories.
Stephanie has said it was pretty depressing when someone stole & published online the book she was working on from Edward’s point of view. & now that E. L. James came out with “Grey”, I’m guessing Stephanie has even less incentive to finish that book. It will be interesting to see if James takes this & does the same thing. What if this whole thing was a trap for James so Stephanie can finally prove she is stealing her characters/ideas & so she can sue her?! I seriously have no idea if that is even possible, but it would be awesome if she could.
I didn’t read the books, but my son was in fifth grade when the first movie came out, and he wanted to see it. I had a blast. Yes, it’s over the top, but it’s… over the top cheesy teen love fun fiction. The only vampire I will ever love is Angel so ehh on the vamp thing, but people take this whole thin all too seriously.
My son refused to go to the rest of them, so I hauled my 40 something rear there, and had a great time listening to the teeny boppers squeal at whathisname’s chest or Edward’s brooding. Fun stuff.
Anne Rice, please release something to make this woman stop writing her trash!
Serious question: why did some of you think _Breaking Dawn_ didn’t fit with the first three? I read accepted the series for what it was: one long, tween-girl swoon driven by the protagonist’s ridiculous choices and motivations. But I probably liked _Dawn_ the best out of the four. ?
I have a theory- sequel fatigue. I’ve seen in Hunger Games books-that last one was horrid. It’s like the authors just run out of plot/ideas of how to end things. I think BD is another example of that- she just had to come up with something to end it, and really abandoned what had driven the previous three in order to do that.
I read all four books right after one another. The tone of the fourth book is completely different. To me it feels like it’s written by a different author. Suddenly characters have nicknames (Jazz) that they have never had for the previous three books. You can also get into the argument about Meyer breaking her own canon about whether vampires can impregnate someone.
Personally, I felt the plot didn’t go anywhere. The ending was anti-climactic. The whole subplot with Jenkins was a complete waste. It went nowhere and really didn’t add anything to the book. She introduced us to a plethora of vampires from around the world who ended up standing around and not doing anything. When you could take out half of the book and the plot isn’t affected at all, you have a crappy book.
I didn’t mind the previous 3 books. I took them for what they were and they were an okay, fun read. Breaking Dawn was just lazy writing that felt like either a rough copy or fan fiction.
It’s like Meyer had a stroke or was kidnapped by aliens after she finished her 3rd book.
Or she started doing drugs and in the midst of a cocaine bender said “hell now lets go crazy and eff everything up twisted like!”
Hey here’s an idea, instead or hundreds of different perspectives on the same story, rewrite the goddamn mess of the 4th book!
If anything needs to be rewritten, it’s Breaking Dawn.
For the love of God, why???
Ill read this before i will ever pay a cent to see or read 50 Shades of crap!
I quite enjoyed the Twilight books. They were easy reading. It was very cheesy but what young romance book isn’t? Breaking Dawn jumped the shark with the whole Renesme thing but up to that i did enjoy it
Judge away, judgy people!!!
Total crash grab and she’s not that great of an author anyway.
Nonetheless, it will do well because twilight fans will buy it
I love Angel, THE vampire with a soul.
And in other news, E.L. James has announced her new novel in which shy, bumbling college student Andy Steele is beguiled by mysterious millionaire Christina Grey.
Lol!!!
Meyer should hire someone to name her characters for her.
I’m calling this one a money grab. lol. Not a real idea here… and Kaiser you’re right, she could easily get the idea of strong female characters by making one of the offspring or new story a stronger female. But by switching genders – I don’t think she accomplished anything but confirm she thinks Bella was not a strong feminine lead. Bella didn’t need to be Edward to be stronger – just less obsessed with love and that goes for all three leads, including the men. Steph, get it together. She’s got $$ on her mind.
It’s idiotic, just like the 50shades of Grey’s book told by Mr Grey. Pathetic.
We all laughed for a good 10 minutes at work yesterday when I discovered Stephenie Meyer was trending on Twitter. Reviews on Amazon say the dialog hasn’t been changed which is very confusing separating the gender swapped characters from the original ones and that it’s all around terrible. I kind of liked The Host as a book and was hoping for a sequel so I’m embarrassed she took the time to write this.
She didn’t change the dialogue?!?????
Wtf.
Her fans have only been begging for her to finish Midnight Sun for several years, sure write this other thing instead.
“Host” is a wonderful book. Meyer is a good author, her language is not limited but quite rich and flowing. I didn’t even realize it was written by the Twilight author until much later.
Actually, the Twlight first books are also not bad.
But I do wish she’d write something else. I think she could be a great romantic author.
She’s a terrible writer, by YA standards or otherwise. The thing you can say about her is that she doesn’t write about violence or sex for its own sake.
I thought it was a great idea until I rad Amazon reviewers saying it is the same exact story word for word only with genders switched! That’s neither interesting nor smart. That’s dissappointing.
Nice doiley, re-purposed as the most hideous garment ever.
I think she’s worth over $100 mill so she certainly doesn’t need the money. I’ve had a read of her website and she hasn’t graduated from HS, mentally speaking. There was some weird post about her rating herself as a 5/10 usually and how she’d moved somewhere as a teen and became an 8/10 or something. Her infantile approach to life has made her megabucks, and I think she’s just so in love with the Twilight universe she doesn’t want to let it go. I think she wrote half of one of the books from Edward’s point of view and it leaked somehow and she gave up, heartbroken.
I don’t have a problem with the cash grab aspect because, well, why the hell not? What I don’t get is why you’d do a gender flipped fanfiction of your own story when there’s so many spin off aspects she could work with. What about the pasts of Edward’s “family?” Who were they before they went veggie!vampire? What happens to Renesmee when Jacob starts creeping her in a few years? Why not a collection of short stories based on minor characters? Patricia Briggs did it with the Mercy Thompson universe, and it did a lot to expand the universe of the books. (Of course…Briggs is a much better writer.) It just seems weird to me, like an even excessively lazy cash grab that is lazy by nature.
How can someone so talentless have another book out? Urgh